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The Steve Meade Tahoe Build
The Steve Meade Tahoe Build
Featured Build: SMD Chevy Tahoe
Steve Meade's World Famous Tahoe
The SMD Tahoe. What started as a DIY build log by the baddest car audio mind on the planet, developed over time into one of the most well-known vehicles in the USA. When everyone else was doing cars, Steve did what he does best – pushing the frontier by turning what had been the family trip mobile into an absolute beast of a vehicle.
As the SMD brand took off, the Tahoe was at the center of it all driving the content production. Put in some monster subs, and now the back is sagging. Add some air shocks on there to fix it. The vehicle gets so heavy, it needs specialty brakes. Install some Wildwood brakes that are up to the task. The vehicle is rattling like a bomb just went off, and so you bring in the big guns… Second Skin with some Damplifier Pro to make sure that sheet metal stays dead.
Second Skin is proud to have been the sound deadener of choice for Steve Meade for over a decade. One of our favorite parts about the Tahoe is that you see the evolution of Damplifier Pro as we continued to innovate and improve the formula. What started as plain silver foil, morphed into a matte black coating, and then today's version with the matte black and ghosted logo. See below for how Steve used Damplifier Pro in the trunk, doors, and floor of his Tahoe.
Second Skin Enters to Deaden the Trunk
Way back in 2009, Steve was using Damplifier Pro to kill structural noise.
Cutting up the sound deadening mat. Sun up or sun down? Steve's an early bird so we'll guess sun up.
Look at that old school Damplifier Pro. Just high quality butyl and the foil constraint layer.
Can you believe we used to be even more discreet than the ghosted logo? Seriously, can you even see the Damplifier Pro?
Jump to the end. Damplifier Pro was about 100 steps ago, but it's still the core of keeping that high quality sound.
What does this have to do with Damplifier Pro? Absolutely nothing.
Damplifier Pro Added to the Doors
Damplifier Pro is the key to getting the best sound from your door speakers. Deaden around the speakers and then as much of the outer and inner door skin as you can cover.
Love this photo, because it's right when we transitioned to the matte black coating on our foil constraint layer.
Annd there's the original aluminum backing. Both in in the same Tahoe!
Close that door up and know Damplifier Pro will keep those speakers sounding as good as they look.
Damplifier Pro Added To the Tahoe's FLoor
It's easy to forget that touchscreens didn't used to be in every luxury vehicle. And certainly not with the functionality of a Mac Mini (Check out that iPhone tether! 3G...haha) Oh yeah, he also puts Damplifier Pro on the Tahoe's floor.
10 years later and damplifier pro is still holding strong
After years of "absurd" vibrations, Damplifier Pro is still as strong today as it was on the day it was installed. Built to last, and built to perform, Damplifier Pro and Butyl Tape continue to dampen the vibrations that come every time Steve "dumps that base".
Radiant Shield used to protect wires
Steve uses Radiant Shield to wrap heat-sensitive wires and Thermal block on areas of the underbody that must be better protected from heat sources.
The Best of the SMD Tahoe
If you want to see the whole build from start to finish, check out Steve’s Tahoe build log on the SMD forums. He also posted the videos in his YouTube channel.
We gotta call out a couple of our favorites though!
"My Eye Popped Out!"
Way back in 2006, a woman listening to Steve’s bass had her fake eye fall out. Literally, the force of the bass popped her eye out. This was one of the biggest YouTube videos at the time with over 5 million views. Keep in mind that way back then a top 10 video for the year might have had 10 million views. Not at all like today where you have to be in the billions.
The "Meadecherry" Candy Paint Job
Look at that freakin’ sparkle. I can’t get enough of watching the sun reflect off that cherry finish. Of course, we then hook Steve up with a heat shield to protect his hood from the heat and preserve the life of that paint job. This one is a two-fer.
Toyota Uses a Chevy Tahoe in a Commercial
If you know car audio, you know the hair trick. Toyota wanted to capture some of that magic to show the world that the redesigned Camry had a real stereo system. The problem was they couldn’t get the hair quite right, and they definitely weren't creating that look of joy/surprise the first time you hear the bass hit. The director knew there was a vehicle out there for the job and hit up Steve to see if he could use the Tahoe. Insert a fake Toyota steering wheel and a green screen. Boom! A Tahoe was used in a nationally advertised Toyota commercial.